Requiem

The sand feels like millions of tiny warm hands all over me, connecting me to the ground aiming me at the sky staring me at the sun and I’m not supposed to look at the sun but the blue around the sun is so blue I can drink it with my eyes if I want as I sink into the sand and my mom. Mommy has my head in her lap playing with the curls in my hair and we’re both laughing as Scarlett is running, her cherry flaxen hair lit up in the sun bouncing as she leaps toward the water, looking back at us and smiling and running more, all the way to the lapping foam splashing in it and then flying back to us and she’s splashing us and we put up our hands trying to protect ourselves from the little droplets of foamy sea Scarlett is showering us with, shaking and spinning from her hair and her hands, twirling the ocean at us like a ballerina until I feel myself slide off my mom as my mom grabs Scarlett and they fall to the ground rolling around and she’s all wet and we’re tickling her and Scarlett is laughing so hard she’s crying and squirming and mom has her pinned and she counts to three and lets her go and Scarlett sprints all the way back down to the water and we lay back panting in the warm satin sand and I snuggle into my mom again and we watch Scarlett bob up and down in the waves, the sand on her skin sparkling lustrous and we watch her as she goes farther out, her body disappearing into the expanse of the ocean and her little bobbing head getting smaller and smaller and you can hear her voice echoing across to us from the water and my mom leans into me and I feel her whispers running along my neck, “I love you, baby. I love you so much.” And I see Scarlett running back toward us glistening wet in the radiance, her damp hair flattened down around her ears and she’s smiling at us, her laughter reverberating with her big leaping steps dripping across the sand toward us. I close my eyes and lay on my moms soft, smooth leg and I feel all of us there together in the sun and I hear Scarlett laughing with my mom and I feel her wet head slip in next to mine and she smells like the ocean and my mom puts a soft towel under her head on her lap and our heads are next to each other and the sun feels warm against my sisters wet body and you can feel my moms hands hugging us into her in the sand until I feel my sisters laughing body calm and warm and I feel her breath slow with mine until we’re all asleep.